horseshoe
Americannoun
-
a U -shaped metal plate, plain or with calks, nailed to a horse's hoof to protect it from being injured by hard or rough surfaces.
-
something U -shaped, as a valley, river bend, or other natural feature.
We picnicked in the middle of a horseshoe of trees.
-
(used with a singular verb) horseshoes, a game in which horseshoes or other U -shaped pieces of metal, plastic, etc., are tossed at an iron stake 30 or 40 feet (9 or 12 meters) away in order to encircle it or to come closer to it than one's opponent.
verb (used with object)
adjective
noun
-
a piece of iron shaped like a U with the ends curving inwards that is nailed to the underside of the hoof of a horse to protect the soft part of the foot from hard surfaces: commonly thought to be a token of good luck
-
an object of similar shape
verb
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Other Word Forms
- horseshoer noun
Etymology
Origin of horseshoe
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Delaware’s continuing bait harvest is taking its toll on the horseshoe crab population that uses the Delaware Bay shore for spawning,” Mr. Cottrell said.
From New York Times
Los Angeles City Councilmember Curren Price, standing in his usual spot behind the horseshoe at City Hall, delivered those words with supreme confidence last October.
From Los Angeles Times
It remains the most likely explanation for how a coronavirus circulating in horseshoe bats in China came to infect humans in the first place.
From Los Angeles Times
“I just have some concerns about using that as a means of weighing the decisions that we’re making around this horseshoe with respect to land use,” she said.
From Los Angeles Times
Luna became the neighborhood blacksmith, gladly nailing horseshoes for anyone who needs them.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
